Aid to the Church in Need
Participants attend a #RedWednesday event in central London.

While it is primarily focused on shining a light on persecution against Christians, #RedWednesday also seeks to highlight injustices perpetrated against other faith groups.

Neville Kyrke-Smith, national director of Aid to the Church in Need (UK), told HuffPost that his organization is “calling for people to be given the right to express and live their faith.”

“In so many parts of the world today, people are denied work, housing, liberty or even their life because of their religious belief,” he said in a statement. “Aid to the Church in Need is delighted to work with CSW and others including representatives of different religious communities to stand up for faith and freedom.”

Religious persecution is a violation of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It happens to people of many different faiths, through arbitrary detention, unjust interrogation, enslavement, forced displacement, execution, destruction of worship spaces and other violent acts.

According to “Under Caesar’s Sword,” a global research project that studies Christian communities and violations of religious freedom, Christians face persecution from theocratic governments in Saudi Arabia and Iran, but also from Communist countries like North Korea and China. Religious nationalism in countries like India and Russia can also result in harassment of some Christians.

Courtesy Archbishop Bashar Warda
The Our Lady of Perpetual Help church in Erbil, Iraq, is lit up for a #RedWednesday vigil.

Bashar Warda, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil, said in a statement that he has cared for displaced Iraqi Christians for over three years. He sees the vigil at the Mother of Perpetual Help Church as a gesture of gratitude.

“This act of solidarity from the U.K. in the form #RedWednesday is deeply moving to us. We want to light our Church in red in full solidarity and gratitude with our brothers and sisters around the world who continue to show how close they are to us.”

Scroll down for photos from this year’s #RedWednesday.

Christopher Furlong via Getty Images
The Houses of Parliament were floodlit in red to remember all those killed, kidnapped, tortured or suffering because of their religious beliefs. The #RedWednesday campaign is organized by the charity Aid to the Church in Need.

We've lit up Lambeth Palace tonight in solidarity with our brothers and sisters persecuted for their Christian faith - and with all who suffer for their peaceably held beliefs. #RedWednesdaypic.twitter.com/BUeA1JUi3G